TAKE ACTION: Protest NYPD and Homophobic Discrimination This Saturday at the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade

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(RePosted for: Tommy News Thomas and Irish Queers)

“Traditional Family Values”? NO!
This parade is Homophobic Discrimination!

New York City residents should call 311 and register a complaint.

Protest
Sat. March 17 @ 11am to end of Parade, about 4 PM
Fifth Ave. between West 56th and 57th St, New York City

Protest NYPD, Mayor Bloomberg, City and Church sanctioned homophobia
This Saturday!

Take Action: NYC Saint Patricks Day Parade sends Message of Hatred and
Intolerance

Recently, Irish President Mary McAleese turned down an invitation to
be the Grand Marshal of the NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade. Irish
Central, the Irish Voice’s website, says it was because of the
parade’s explicit anti-gay stance. The parade now represents the same
intolerance and bigotry that the Irish immigrants have fought for over
two centuries.

A 1995 conservative U.S. Supreme Court decision allowed the private
sponsor of the Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade to exclude a group of
gays and lesbians.
The 9-0 SCOTUS decision said that parades are a “form of expression”
protected by the First Amendment and that organizers could not be
compelled to include groups whose messages they did not favor. A
second, inclusive parade will take place in Boston, following
a mile behind the first parade.

In New York, gays have again been banned from marching in the parade
on the 17th.
For over 20 years the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and NYC SAINT
PATRICK’S DAY PARADE, Inc. which organizes the
parade, have barred LGBT and Irish gay groups from marching. They
claim the parade is a private, religious procession “Traditional
Family Values”? in
order to to justify keeping LGBT groups out.
New York Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who has compared
homosexuality to alcoholism, has expressed his disapproval of marriage
equality and “homosexuals”. He has pledged to fight Marriage Equality
in New York and in places out of his jurasdiction.

In the parade, public employees such as on duty uniformed police and
firefighters, public school employees and students, and many
secular groups participate in the parade. Public funds are used for
setup, cleanup, security, etc. A private parade, can’t take public
money or allow public employees to participate.

Therefore, we must protest not only the discriminatory exclusion of
LGBT groups from the parade, but also the use of public funds and
public employees. Any event that discriminates against people because of who
they are should not be publicly supported.

The inclusive St. Patrick’s Parade in Queens, held before
St. Patrick’s Day is the only one in the city that allows gay groups
to march openly. The other parades should be boycotted and protested.
Staten Island Pride was banned from the Staten Island St. Pat’s parade
again this year, and gay groups such as Irish Queers are again banned
from marching the big parade on Fifth Avenue this week.

We must protest as long as these homophobic and discriminatory
policies continue. Openly lesbian New York City Speaker Christine
Quinn said: “‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ has been repealed. The military is
no longer
discriminating against LGBT people, but yet parades in New York City
are. It baffles the mind.”

We insist the NYPD, NYFD, public schools, public agencies and
accomodation, sanitation, The Mayor and all New Yorkers immediately stop
participation in the NYC St. Patrick’s Parade and any other such
explicitly anti-gay event. We protest.

From Irish Queers http://irishqueers.blogspot.com/

On Saturday, March 17, the NYPD takes off the mask.
BE THERE TO PROTEST NYPD HOMOPHOBIA!!!
Separate church and state… Separate bigots and public servants!
Sat. March 17 @ 11am to end of Parade, about 4 PM

Fifth Ave. between West 56th and 57th St @ The St. Patrick’s Day parade

This Saturday, tens of thousands of cops will march in an explicitly
anti-gay parade of hate – Mayor Bloomberg, too. The NYC St. Patrick’s
Day parade, once a celebration of Irish New York, is now a “solemn
procession” of the religious right. It was redesigned so that anti-gay
bigots could parade using the church’s special right to discriminate.
The parade officially sends an “anti-gay message” – and the NYPD is
its biggest participant.

How much does the NYPD support religious anti-gay bigots? The NYPD
actively fought to keep Irish queers out of the parade, fought queers’
right to protest the parade, and now sends thousands of officers to
march in NYPD contingents. Most recently, when a dozen queer rights
and immigrant/cultural groups joined forces to tell NYPD Commissioner
Kelly that police endorsement exacerbates anti-queer violence, and to
demand that the NYPD pull out of the parade, Commissioner Kelly didn’t
even bother to respond.

PROTEST NYPD HOMOPHOBIA and ANTI-QUEER VIOLENCE!
Separate church and state… Separate bigots and public servants!
Sat. March 17 @ 11am
Fifth Ave. between West 56th and 57th St